Thursday, 22 April 2010

Third Test Available

I gave my third (and last test before the final exam) last week. Many of you have asked for copies of my previous tests. Anyone who would like a copy of this one can send me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

I thought the test was pretty good -- it was a quirky type of multiple-choice test that I like to give when I have a lot of computations that I want the students to make. However, it was clearly a challenge for them. They had to push hard to finish in 75 minutes. In the end, I had 44 percent who earned an A or B. I thought that was a bit low. I believe the class has gone well this semester (they are the most engaged group that I have had in years -- I'm biased but I credit my new textbook for that) and I always prefer to have over 50 percent grades of A or B. It is an intro class in late spring with only a very few potential accounting majors so maybe 44 percent is about right.

Obviously, this is one of the never ending internal debates for a professor: how much do I push my students to challenge them without discouraging them? I want my students to be challenged to think and work but I don't want to set the bar so high that they feel defeated before they start.